Are the Panasonic BD-R 25G still considered one of the best quality blank BDs? Is the MID Code: MEI-T02-001 ?? Are these only manufactured in Japan? If this is correct, then where is the best place to purchase these (for someone from the US)? Is it ebay?

MEI-T02-001 is one of the MIDs Panasonic single layer BD-R discs have. The 4x variety. 2x are MEI-T01-001. 6x are MEI-RA1-001.

There was talk about Panasonic outsourcing production of the 4x blanks. I don’t know if that’s accurate, or if it has happened yet. If they’re not outsourced they’re made in Japan.

You can find the 4x variety pretty widely on eBay or on the Amazon.com marketplace. Note that some people have not been happy with the blanks they have received believing they received counterfeit discs or 2nds. There are a few posts around the forum to that effect.

Speaking of Panasonic BD-R media, is there any logical reason why it’s cheaper to import it from Japan than to buy the offerings for the US market? For instance, a 25-pack of Panasonic 4x 25GB BD-R discs with a branded surface is $99.99 at Fry’s Electronics, whereas a 50 pack of the same discs with a full-face printable surface is ï¿¥4,675 at Amazon Japan, which works out to around $45.98 for the Japanese street price. We don’t see anywhere near this kind of price difference with CD and DVD media.

I burned them at 4X , in my Pioneer BDR-206 1.05 FW (Ebay china version)
I burned them at 4X , in my LiteOn iHBS-112-04 FW PY06
I Burned them at 4X , in my Asus BW-16D1HT FW 1.01

I must say, This is the best quality scans i have ever been able to achieve here.
Just for fun i tested some of my older 2x BDR-DL 50GB discs with Panasonic MID that i burned in 2009 , they were still very good scans even after 4 years! Better quality then some of my pressed original discs (regarding to AVG LDC / BIS atleast)